In blog post earlier today, details about The Division’s 1.6 update was finally released following a small live stream yesterday where they discussed some of the numerous changes being implemented in the game.
The update will go into effect on the same day as the final DLC, The Last Stand, but unlike the DLC, the update will be free to download. The new update adds a massive amount of content and changes that are sure to bring about more issues with the gameplay; thats another story though.
Update 1.6 will bring the regular balancing tweaks and changes – including some major ones detailed below – but at the same time we’ll expand the game map, add new special events, revamp the Named gear, add Dark Zone leaderboards and release a whole new difficulty level!
Since reporting on some of the news of the new dark zone layout the other day, it has been revealed that there will also be an edition of a leaderboard as well as events and new named gear to be looted. In the post, Ubisoft stated that the conditions that players will face in the new zones will be bleak and filled with eerie environments and more difficult NPC’s. Something new for the Dark zone is that in the new area there will be landmarks that will have waves of enemies to defeat to get the new gear from drops. The new gear will even be deposited directly to your inventory when they are defeated. Here is a rundown of the dark zone changes from the post.
- The Dark Zone has been expanded with three new areas, Dark Zone 7-9, north of Dark Zone 6 and Midtown East.
- New Landmarks feature waves of enemies.
- Landmarks award you with additional loot placed directly into your inventory.
- Fast travel between Dark Zone checkpoints has become available.
In other dark zone news, there will now be underground hourly events that players have the option to take place in. Cleaners will spawn and begin to destroy body bags, players will need to stop them. “The contamination has reached unprecedented lethal levels in these places, so your virus filter will not be enough to resist it. Act quickly and learn how to manage your health while venturing into the contaminated underground”. Here is a rundown of the contamination events.
- New Contamination Events have been added to the Dark Zone.
- Roughly every hour, elite Cleaners will spawn in the Dark Zone underground. Contamination in those areas will reach lethal levels, so your virus filter will not be able to resist it.
Mission wise, there will be a new mission difficulty level added called Legendary. Times Square, WarrenGate Power Plant and Napalm Production Site will be the only missions receiving this option(as if they weren’t hard enough). Ubisoft has said that the new mission levels were designed to be the hardest missions in the game, more so that doing an incursion on heroic difficulty.
You won’t be fighting the same enemies you usually fight in those missions, though. All the previous content has been taken out and replaced with new, powerful and much smarter LMB enemies that use more advanced tactics against you and your team. They’ll react to your skills and status effects, will be hard to hit since they keep a low profile, will constantly try to flank you, and you really don’t want to get into melee range of them.
This new legendary mode will come with its own elite variety of weapons an gear to be given to those talented enough to survive and finish the missions. The new gear will not be obtainable anywhere else in the game, to get it, you’ll have to complete the missions.
Other than these changes, there has been more smaller ones that will be taking effect as well. Be sure to visit the post and check out everything as they clearly took the time to detail out every little change being made.